After having such a nice loaf turn out from the last Chacon bake, we thought we would do everything we could to mess it up – and we did mess up more than half of it without much difficulty at all. These things happen when you try new things. Not to worry when we can learn from near disasters.

We took a more difficult but very nice 90% whole grain formula and decided to try it out in the Cuisinart mini convection oven we want to use for summer baking. The problem is that space is limited, steaming is harder and keeping the steam in difficult.

So we decided to try baking this loaf 2 different ways with steam and see which one performed better.

One was using the broiling pan that came with the oven, putting water below and baking the bread on the perforated cover. The other way was to bake the bread on the broiler pan bottom and put a stainless steel mixing bowl over the top.

The spare tire.

We also wanted to try out some different patterns for the Chacon as well as try out a new shaping method that would help in spring. We did two folds and crimps (like shaping baguette) for the outside ring instead of one.

The loaf steamed with the full broiler pan and the water below, we decorated with flax seeds and bran stuck to the loaf with egg white. One the other round loaf we used 3 smaller knotted rolls instead of one in the middle and left it undecorated under its steel steaming lid that acted like a cloche.

The winner was unmistakable. The cloche, steel lidded loaf, performed much better as far as spring goes. But, after removing the steaming lid my apprentice forgot to move the loaf up a rack level and burned the bottom of it. OOPPPSSS! The other loaf didn’t have any spring at all - but was not burnt. Between the two, we got zero decent bread but would if you could cut the good bottom one of them and switch it to the other better sprung and looking top.

Now we know that the mini oven will work fine in the summer to make bread when plugged in outside by using the cloche and the apprentice has learned her lesson.

3 stage levain YW and SD combo starter, overnight retard of the starter, 24 hour autolyse for the flour and the liquid using whey water from yogurt making this time, 1 1/2 hour ferment/development followed by overnight retard for the dough with final proof the next day in rice floured baskets in a trash bag.

We also used walnut oil and crushed walnuts for a separate paste like Phil did for his Walnut and Sage bread and put walnuts and pumpkin seeds in the bread too with the sprouts. – Thanks Phil! We preheated to 500 F regular bake and then did a regressive temperature baking profile. After 2 minutes 450 F. After 15 minutes, remove steam or cloche and turn oven down to 400 F convection. Turn loaf 180 degrees every 5 minutes until done about more 20 minutes or 35 minutes total until temp hits 205 the center of the loaf. Leave in oven to crisp for 10 minutes with oven off and door ajar.

See how the purple color comes out under inside artificial lighting - The walnut oil paste finally shows itself.

As you can see the crumb is nice and airy even with 90% whole grains in this loaf. The power of YW shows. The crumb was moist. The crust stayed crisp and crunchy even hours later. Tuns out the dark crust came from reusing the parchment paper from the Croissant bake - butter transferring to the crust and turning dark. It didn't taste bad nor was it tough or hard to cut - just dark - and extra tasty. The Chacon curse was partially lifted. This is one great tasting bread too. We love all the whole grains, add ins, nuts and sprouts. The whey water makes this breadhave a deep SD flavor that builds over time. The Chacon has it's new formula now too.

As a final note we did pinch of 100 g of fermented dough right before it went into the fridge to use as a starter for a pizza and pide for tonight’s dinner - turned out very well. We will make that a separate post though.

The formula follows the pix and we won’t have crumb shots for 24 hours.

Comments

These are but minor inconveniences: the ole' Chacon curse becoming manifest in your bread. It's impish like that and probably just a projection of my recent bike rides (sunburned like a boiled lobster and 3 flats in 5 days).

The outer Chacon with inner variations was exactly what I was thinking about for the banana bread (that I seem incapable of bringing to fruition). You must have read my mind, which is probably how the curse traveled across space-time.

As restitution, I offer a solution that will make the mini oven work miracles: plug it into the neighbor's outdoor electricity receptacle.

rolling on the floor. Why didn't you tell me about the Chacon curse? I would have spelled it Chacone had I known about the flat tire thing . Now just because I made a flat tire, that looked like a tire from all the way across the cosmos, Co to AZ, this fact is really beside the point when curses are involved in beer or bread making.

Next thing you know a mummy or perhaps a vapor ghoul will come to my door calling Chacon, Chacon, Chacon... with a tire pump in one hand and a deadly scorpion in then other. I need some more insurance :-)

The bake turned out fine. The bread is delicious and so light and airy for so much whole grain. The walnuts, sage in combination with the sprouts is amazing. Thought for sure the little Krups would burn up on this one. The semolina is the only thing it didn't grind. Didn't expect the first one to spring but the crumb was passable anyway. Didn't think it would look as bad as it did on the outside though with very little cracking and odd amoeba decoration. The 2nd cloche loaf was just grand even though the bottom got dark from the previous bakes croissant butter. It didn't taste burnt and it wasn't hard or hard to cut. We could eat that bread all day long - and just might.

I'm glad to find out exactly how to use the mini oven for other than loaf breads this summer. You have to try this bread once you YW gets up and running.

Glad to hear it tasted great! Your crumb looks very nice and as you say, the most important thing is the taste, taste and taste!

My YW is raring to go....so much that one of my helpers Cosmo was having a grand old time yesterday staring in amazment at the container it is living in......my wife told me it was making odd noises that were driving my poor Cosmo bonkers!

I will attempt to make a simple levain with it this weekend and we will see what happens.

My rye, spelt, coffee, multi-grain is resting before its upcoming visit with the eternal flames....

Cuisinart oven even more, now that you've gotten over the main hurtle. The loaf turned out fine and that made the experiment worth it's weight in flour. Looking forward to more :) Just got home for the evening. I drove past a lovely little deer on my steet, we both stopped and staired. Nature is so lovely. Then I set out tomorrow's pickup for our neighborhood food drive..when I came back in.. I had a humungous spider, his body about the size of quarter sitting on my chest..nearly fainted, it's back looked very, very similar to your 13th photo..same color too! Chacon Spider Bread : )

thing has to be the Chacon curse at work. The Lovely Bambi diverts your attention..... while the spider attacks :-)

My daughter said yesterday's pizza was the best ever even though my wife and her both agreed that they like our focaicca Romana crust with sun dried tomato, garlic and fresh rosemary crust better. How these square is beyond me but the pide took the honors by far in my book. The sun dried tomato and basil feta, Swiss chard, red and green peppers and caramelized oniond were a fine combination.

have taken a picture of the bugger before I picked it up with my grippers and tossed it back outside. They are harmless, commonly seen around here and very large. I was just glad it didn't get on my face..they string their webs right across walkways for some distance.

Oh yes, your pide and pizza..just gorgeous! I had a feeling you would be taken with how you can add all the lovely fillings of your imagination to a Pide :) they are fun to make.

Beside being a chef, an architect, you are also a scientist! Reading the ingredients list, this got to be the most "multigrain" of all the multi grain bread I see so far on the TFL post. Keep up the good work please! I really enjoy reading all your posts. Thanks.

I consider myself more of a mad scientist and wanna be Thaichef :-) These are the kinds of breads I prefer to eat so I make variations of them most often. The multi-grain challah was fairly loaded too. I look to see what is in the grain bin at the time and start grinding away! One day we will hit the 100% multi-grain level :-) I'm glad you like the posts and thanks for your gracious comments.

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